Dirk Nowitzki: The Forgotten Star of Dallas

It’s a no-brainer that Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks is a 1st ballot hall of famer. The 7 foot German has revolutionized the game, killing the stereotype that big men need to stay in the post, as well as his classic step-back one-foot jumper. Dirk is entering his 20th season in the NBA, joining Kobe Bryant as the only two players who stayed with the same team their whole career. Dirk is currently the #6 scorer in league history. If you have a conversation about who’s top ten all time, you won’t typically hear Dirks name, understandably so. On the other hand if your top 30 of all-time doesn’t have Nowitzki’s name on that list, do you even watch basketball? Unfortunately this is the case in most all-time talks in your local barber shop. The 13-time All-Star, one time NBA Champion (2011), one time MVP (06-07), as well as finals MVP (2011), still has a very underrated/overlooked feel about his career. Becoming the forgotten star of Dallas.

Loyal to a fault

Mavericks’ fans love him, and respect him and all he’s done for the game and their franchise. The franchise leader in pretty much every category in Maverick history, Dirk, has passed up on a ridiculous amount of money over his 19 year career. http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/DAL/leaders_career.html He is loyal to a fault. From taking “hometown discounts” (signing a 3-year 25 million dollar deal in 2014) to even sacrificing more than half of his earnings to make room for free agents to come to Dallas to contend (i.e. 2014 for Chandler Parsons who stole almost 30 million from the Mavs just to bounce two years later). http://clutchpoints.com/dirk-nowitzki-sacrificed-194-million-over-the-course-of-his-career/. What has that gotten him? The Dallas Mavericks haven’t been close to signing a big-name free agent in awhile. Does nobody want to play with Dirk? He wants to win another ring in Dallas but what has Mark Cuban, Mavericks owner, done to put the help around the future hall of famer? Harrison Barnes? Wesley Matthews? Nerlens Noel? The Mavericks have a Curry on the team but it isn’t Steph.

What Have You Done for Me Lately?

Baring this last season Dirk was averaging 18 ppg in the 2015-16 season. This past season, however, a hurt Dirk put up his second lowest points per game average (14.2) since his rookie year (8.2). He only played 54 games, due to a few nagging injuries. He’s going into next season at the ripe old age of 40, and has been quoted as saying that he can play for at least 2 more years. I think Mark Cuban is doing him dirty at this point. Mark, in my opinion, is taking advantage of Dirk’s age and stats. How can you give the face of your franchise for over a decade pretty much scraps? Mind you, millions of dollars in any aspect is in no way shape or form scraps. But look around at the rest of the league. Since the Maverick’s won an NBA title in 2011, Mark Cuban keeps asking Dirk to give up more and more money and every year Dirk, in my opinion, foolishly keeps saying yes. The more money Dirk gives up the further away the Mavericks get from winning another title. 2011 was a long time ago for Mavs fans, they can’t reminisce on something that happened 6 years ago.

What’s Next?

Dirk just signed a contract extension, agreeing to a two-year $10 million deal to stay with the Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki, 13-time All-star, NBA champion, scored over 30 thousand points in the NBA, making 10 million dollars for the next two years. I can’t even imagine how that “negotiation” went, “ Hey Dirk how do you feel about making even LESS money and we STILL won’t give you any pieces to make this team better” and Dirk just nodding his head reaching for the pen. It’s like you seeing a kid running into a glass window, you feel bad at first, but when they do it repeatedly you don’t feel bad anymore. I want to feel bad for Dirk and his history of contract “extensions” since 2011, but at some point I just feel like he’s just doing it to himself.

1 Comment

Adam July 12, 2017 at 6:05 pm

Dirk is my all time favorite player since a long. I started watching NBA just because of him. When he hit 30k points, tears were rolling from my eyes. When the news came that Dirk signed $10m, First I thought $10m for one year. It came to my utter shock $5m a year (which a bench player gets )and I couldn’t digest. Yes he’s has been taken for granted. Cuban also underpaid to Nash which made him to leave the Mavs. Dirk stayed with a mediocre team and been working in a discounted salary. He gives everything to this franchise but ends up getting this :'( . Cuban knows that by deducting Dirk’s salary won’t make them GSW, still we would be excelling at a lower pace. Had he been appointing any superstar, then it makes sense. He maybe happy or something with this contract but fans are not..